Mugabe sells luxury Hong Kong villa at a loss

Daniel Friedman

Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.

The home has been the subject of legal disputes surrounding ownership.

A luxury Hong Kong villa where Grace Mugabe had lived with her daughter Bona has reportedly been sold for $4.3 million (almost R60 million). This is around 15% less than the price it was bought for, which was $5.6 million (close to R80 million).

The house is part of JC Castle, a cluster of villas named after Chinese action hero Jackie Chan, according to the South China Morning Post.

“A loss is in this area is unusual,” said Thomas Lo, director of Century 21 Deluxe Home Property, who sold the house.

While he didn’t identify the seller, he did say it is a “foreigner” who was not currently living in Hong Kong. Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe is believed to own the home, although there have been legal disputes surrounding ownership.

While Hsieh Ping Sung, also known as Jack Ping, a Taiwanese-born businessman based in South Africa who was once a close associate of Mugabe, bought the property in 2008 at cost from a company called Cross Global, the Zimbabwean government went on to sue both Ping and Cross Global, claiming full ownership and saying Ping had been holding the property on trust.

The luxury Hong Kong villa believed to have been sold by the Mugabes.

It was reported in November last year that Mugabe’s health had deteriorated, leaving him unable to walk.

Current Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa told supporters at a Zanu-PF rally that the former leader had been in Singapore for two months, where he had been receiving medical care, and was now unable to move freely due to ill health and old age.

He told supporters that whatever the former leader needed, they would provide.

“We are looking after him. He is the founding father of the nation of Zimbabwe. He is our founding father of free Zimbabwe.”

(Additional reporting by Gopolang Chawane)

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